By Gordon Davidson

Copyright sltn

Brian Murphy: a tribute

BRIAN MURPHY, a legend in the Scottish pub trade for more that forty years, has sadly passed away. SLTN offers its condolences to the Murphy family and the wider staff team at The Pot Still, one of whom, Julia Fletcher-Smith, provided the following words…

FROM a start in business owning a newsagents and fruit shop, when Brian Murphy took on his first pub, Rockefellers on Possil’s Keppochhill Road, he did not know the industry at all.

But from Rockefellers he went on to own the Hyndland Bar in Partick, then The Arlington on Woodlands Road.

In his time at The Arlington, Brian started the SODALL campaign to have the Stone of Destiny returned to its rightful resting place in The Arlington, where it was hidden after students drinking in the bar devised a plan to steal it in the 1960s.

He ran many charitable activities, from pensioners’ Christmas lunches to charity golf events, Burns nights to charity racing nights.

The Arlington had its own successful golf club hosting tournaments with other bars in the city.

There were several trophies dedicated to members who had passed, including journalists and taxi drivers. As many TOA taxi drivers frequented the Arlington, he and his staff would also help with the charity taxi run every year.

Brian always loved football and often held charity games between his two bars. He’d also take customers on day trips away, often to Ayr Racecourse.

After The Arlington, Brian moved on to The Pot Still on Hope Street, which he managed for 11 years until his recent retirement. In that time he not only played a massive part in making The Pot Still the institution it is today, changing the bar layout, doubling the whisky collection and winning copious awards in the process, he also shaped three of the Glasgow bar industry’s most well-known names in his children Frank, Katie, and Geraldine, known fondly as the Pot Still Murphys.

On his diagnosis with Parkinson’s, he had to step down from his role at The Pot Still, but until recently, if he was not looking after some or all of his nine grandchildren, Brian was in the bar chatting to his regulars and winding up his staff, who he always believed to be the heart of the industry and always treated as such.

In the last couple of years Brian kept active with walking football, which has a great support system for people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

I can safely say as an employee (and friend) of his for the last eight years, Brian’s presence will be deeply missed by the team and customers both past and present.

But his legacy will continue to be felt through the dedication of his children to maintaining The Pot Still as very much more than just a pub.

Julia Fletcher-Smith